India survived a major scare in the series opener, recovering from 19/4 through a match-winning 82-run partnership between debutant Niki Prasad and seasoned all-rounder Deepti Sharma to secure a four-wicket victory. The Indian batters were guilty of throwing their wickets away, with off-spinner Nyasha Gwanzura striking three times in the powerplay. The hosts will be keen to avoid a repeat of the early collapse, with the top four — captain Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Anushka Sharma and former skipper Harmanpreet Kaur — all falling for single-digit scores.
The Indian top order will look to deliver a more assured batting display when they take on Zimbabwe in the second women’s T20 International on Sunday.
“Of course, we want to play an aggressive brand of cricket, and that was in our mind,” Deepti told reporters after the match. “Occasionally these things happen in a match. There is no god who gives you exactly what you want. But we always learn from our innings and our matches.
I’m sure what happened today won’t happen in the next match,” she added.
Match starts at 7 PM IST.
I’m sure she’ll take a lot of confidence from this match,” Deepti said. “This confidence from a youngster is remarkable. Building a partnership when the team needs it and winning the match from a difficult situation is special.
